


Paper boats, floating on a string

by Cactaceae28



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fate & Destiny, Gen, Platonic Soulmates, Quintuple Drabble, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Vague, like really vague and really drabble-y, or maybe not?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22699990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cactaceae28/pseuds/Cactaceae28
Summary: The appearance of Soulmarks had been an incredibly puzzling development in the history of humanity. All manner of experts had failed to figure out how it had happened, much less why; and the age of space exploration had only added more questions.For certain individuals, separated by time and space, only one answer mattered: The one which they would find for themselves.
Relationships: Captains & Crews
Kudos: 34





	1. Enterprise

Ever since the Marks first appeared on his skin, Jonathan Archer had known he was a special case; because he had not one or two, as was the norm, but four of them in the same contrasting tone against his skin, as clear as the doodles he used to draw on his hands when his old math teacher drowned on during his lessons.

“There are a couple of gaps.” Trip said the first time he saw them, with an airy voice and almost succeeding at hiding the trace of bitterness over his own unblemished arms; but he seemed to be right. There was a gap, right between Trip’s name and a Malcolm Reed, and even his best friend’s name was just a bit too low for where the first mark usually appeared. With no explanation on sight however, Jonathan easily put the matter out of his mind.

But years later, he will stand on a podium and know that he stands on the verge of a great beginning. He will look back at his ship, his crew and his first officer, at what they have accomplished together. When that moment comes, he will feel the skin of his arm prickle, and he will wonder.


	2. The Original Series

As far as Starfleet was concerned, the trend consolidated with James T. Kirk. Granted, by the time he received the promotion to Captain there had already been a number of rumors of other Marked captains of renown in the intervening years such as that of the U.S.S Shenzou. So by the time he stepped on the bridge of the Enterprise, he already knew four of his six Marks were serving aboard.

He also knew in that intuitive way that had yet to fail him that they were important in a way that not even Gary or Carol had ever or could ever be. The words, after all, had gotten him through the worst times of his life and since their first appearance shortly after Tarsus they had spoken of hope and companionship. He had forgotten how many times he had retraced them, the vibrant black and not-quite grey, until the patterns were firmly imprinted on his memory.

As the years pass, his instinct will be proven correct. Time and again, they will stand against impossible odds, will succeed beyond expectations and will, always, support each other. And one day, when the owner of the name that has never been quite as defined as the rest beats the most impossible of impossible odds, he will know that they are all connected in a way deeper than duty, blood or even destiny.


	3. The Next Generation

By the time Jean-Luc Picard was to assume command of the Enterprise-D, the fact that people with four or more Soulmarks on their arm made for excellent, legendary captains had been so firmly established that it had become a sort of unspoken rule to aid the bonds along. He was given a choice for his second in command but it was never a choice at all; not once he caught sight of the same name that occupied the first place in his arm among the applications. Though the discommendation didn’t make for the best first impression, he knew his decision wouldn’t be contested.

Just over a year later, he will stare at the last one, hours after it has become a washed-out grey that barely stands out from his own pale skin, and feel something that reminds him uncomfortably of a seedy bar and of unfounded self-confidence crushed in the face of reality.

Three years later, back in his childhood room where the Marks first appeared, he will stare at them and grasp at his wrist until he leaves bruises behind and he will remind himself that he’s human. He’s still human.

And many, many years later, through the renewed conflicts and eventual triumphs, watching over this group of young men and women with their own unique, developing relationships, he will look back and take strength from his old, reliable bonds.


	4. Deep Space Nine

Benjamin Sisko had lived most of his life with only two other Marks, nothing remarkable in itself, midway down his forearm. He had, therefore, not formed too many expectations about them or about the possibilities in his future. He had of course been curious, but not concerned, though he had once wondered about the people that an unexplained Rule of biology or mysticism had considered worthier than his own wife.

Yet then came Wolf-359. Though it wasn’t in his character to blame those men who had never known her, he had grieved the fact that even the small comfort of her name, faded as it would have been, had been denied from him. It was for that reason that he chose to put the entire matter to rest, and never truly ponder the question again even after he finally met them.

That is the reason why the realization will take him by surprise when, nearly three years after the start of his assignment on Deep Space Nine, he stands on the Ferengi’s bar engaged on a debate with his old Trill mentor, watching as his Bajoran second in command nods respectfully in his direction on her way to the office belonging to a Changelling:

Without even searching for it, he has found home.


	5. Voyager

Kathryn Janeway had decided early on that she would not be ruled by anything. Destiny wasn’t something one followed, it was something that had to be forged, and she knew this with the same stark clarity as the names resalted against her skin. She covered them during her time at the Academy, because they were nobody’s business and she was going to reach the rank of Captain on her own merits, not a glorified grocery list.

Though for the most part she had refused to even look at them, her resolve had briefly faltered a few weeks after the meeting with the Caretaker. As she had expected, some of the Maquis’ names were there. In fact, by that point in time she was only missing one more, a blurred smudge that was barely legible near the crook of her elbow.

It will take years, as Voyager slowly makes her way home from the Delta Quadrant, for the owner of that last name to cross paths with them. She’s alien in ways they can’t understand, but Janeway has clear proof that there’s still common ground between them and she hasn’t reached the position she holds by backing down from a challenge. ~~Annika~~ Seven will become part of their family. And they will take her home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


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